Michelle Obama with Neighborhood Fiber Co
Michelle graduated from Princeton and went on to Harvard Law School. Early in her law career, she met and eventually married Barack Obama. Together they raised two daughters, Malia and Sasha. As First Lady, Michelle served as a role model for women, working hard as an advocate for poverty awareness, education, nutrition, physical activity, and healthy eating.
Karida learned how to knit immediately after finishing college, and fell in love. Hard. Enamored with knitting, she set out to create her own hand-dyed yarn business. She taught herself how to dye yarn and thus, NFC was born. Karida's love of bright and vibrant colors is what gives NFC yarn its signature style.
Neighborhood Fiber Co
Iris Apfel with Qing Fibre
Iris Apfel is an American business-woman, interior designer, and fashion icon. Born in Queens, she studied art at New York University. Together with her husband Carl, they ran a textile firm known as Old World Weavers for over 42 years before retiring in 1992. Iris also took part in several design restoration projects, including the White House.
Qing Fibre is the creative vision of Layla (Qing) Yang. Whilst learning to knit, she discovered a want for more variegated and eye-catching colours that popped and changed with each stitch. Struggling to get the exact colourways she envisioned, she set about creating them herself, and thus Qing Fibre was born in 2016.
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Nelly Bly with Life in the Long Grass
Nelly Bly was an American journalist who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days in emulation of Jules Verne's famous book, and an expose in which she worked undercover to report on a mental institution from within. She was a pioneer in her field, and launched a new kind of investigative journalism.
Life in the Long Grass is an Irish artisan hand dyed yarn and art studio in the countryside of Ireland. Caroline is a keen knitter, and was taught to knit and crochet by her mother and her craft neighbor Mrs. Ryan. "I love working with natural fibres and incproroate them in our home and in what we wear."
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Vivienne Westwood with Black Elephant
Westwood became a fashion icon making clothes for Malcolm McLaren's boutique in London. The pair's ability to synthesize clothing and music helped shape the 1970s UK punk scene. She went on to become a household name in fashion, and has used her influence to champion many causes, from nuclear disarmament to civil rights.
After years of studying at various universities, Petra realized that all she wanted from life was to work with yarn. Dying it, knitting it, spinning it, crocheting it... "The possibilities are endless. So here I am, making my dream come true. Join me on this epic journey and share the passion, for the love of yarn."
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Lizzie Velasquez with Fiber and Hue
Lizzie Velasquez is an American motivational speaker, author, and YouTuber. She was born with an extremely rare congenital disease, which among other things, prevents her from accumulating body fat. Though bullied as a child, Lizzie found a way to stay positive and is an inspiring and powerful voice in the fight against bullying.
Krista is a self-proclaimed HUGE fan of bright color. "You have to love what you work with, because you're going to be looking at it for a while. Why not make it fun and happy?" She is always interested in helping customers find just what they're looking for... which is why she's open to talking about the possibility of custom colors!
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Sally Ride with Unraveled Designs and Yarn Galaxy Fingering
At 32 years old, Sally Kristen Ride became the first American woman in space. To this day, she remains the youngest American astronaut to have traveled to space. After two successful trips on the Challenger, she retired from NASA and became a professor of physics at Standford University & UCSD.
What do you get when you comebine a passion for color and thirst for the new and unexpected? Unraveled Designs and Yarn! Rachel and Heather actually met working here at JBW, and we couldn't be more proud to feature their yarn. Their passion to innovate our industry is infectious!
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Constance Baker Motley with A Hundred Ravens
Constance Baker Motley was a civil rights activist, lawyer, judge, and state senator. She was also the first African-American woman appointed to the federal judiciary, and served as an assistant attorney in the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education that abolished segregation in schools.
Independent and family operated, AHR is known for user-friendly superwash yarn in a variety of bases. All of their yarn in manufactured in the USA, and then hand-dyed by owner and lead dyer, Kate Bacchus. They pride themselves on exceptional quality, great customer service, and incredible colors.
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Malala with Apple Fiber Studio
In 2012, Malala was shot in an assassination attempt by two members of the Taliban. The attempt sparked an international outpouring of support and Malala became a prominent activist for the right to education for women. As the co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, she is also the youngest Nobel Laureate in history.
Andrea Evans and her husband Ander opened Apple Yarns in 2007 and appleyarns.com in 2010. From their experiences as local yarn store owners. They have gathered great insight on what customers are looking for. They use that insight to create yarn that people will love and want to knit and crochet with again and again.
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"Unsinkable" Molly Brown with Twisted Owl Fiber Studio
Posthumously known as the "Unsinkable Molly Brown", Molly was an American socialite and philanthropist. She is best remembered for convincing the crew of her lifeboat to return to the debris of the sinking Titanic to search for survivors. A Broadway play was written about her life in the 1960s.
Abby had the pattern, and she had the needles, but she just couldn't find the right yarn. It was in that moment that the sky opened up and a chorus of angels spoke to her... "You could dye your own yarn!" they sang. After a year of color experimentation, Twisted Owl Fiber Studio was born.
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Frida Kahlo with Biscotte Yarns
Frida Kahlo has been inspiring artists and designers for decades. Her paintings were inspired by the artifacts and natural elements of Mexico, as well as the country's popular culture. Her work explored questions of identity, post-colonialism, gender, class, and race. Her unique surrealist style still resonates to this day.
Biscotte Yarns began as a blog, but they began dyeing yarns out of pure pleasure. After showing their work to their readers, they were quickly overwhelmed with demand for their hand dyed yarns! After over 10 years of hard work, they now have a workshop for dyeing and their own local yarn store in Saint-Bruno, Canada!
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Emma Gatewood with Downtown Dyeworks
Setting out with nothing but a pair of Converse sneakers, an army blanket, a raincoat, and a plastic shower curtain in a homemade denim bag, Emma "Grandma" Gatewood would become the first woman to hike the Appalachian Trail, at the age of 67. She would complete the journey twice more, her last at the age of 75.
Lindsay has been dyeing yarn as a hobby for the better part of 10 years. In the fall of 2015, she decided to follow her passion and launch Downtown Dyeworks. Operating out of Las Vegas, Nevada, Lindsay takes great care to dye unique and colorful yarns that create an even distribution of color in any garment.
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Jeannette Pickering Rankin with Western Sky Knits
As the first woman to hold federal office in the United States, and still the only woman ever elected to Congress from Montana. Jeannette Rankin was instrumental in initializing legislation that would eventually become the 19th Constitutional Amendment, which granted voting rights to woman.
Kimberly Volseth and her friend, Heather, started WSK in 2007. Since then, they have grown, but have stayed focused on their hand-dyeing techniques. Kim is still dyeing her yarn in a small studio, converted from an old ranch bunkhouse, on her family-owned and operated cattle ranch in Montana.
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